KRANJI WAR CEMETERY
Singapore
Location
Information:
Kranji War Cemetery is 22 kilometres north of the city
of Singapore, on the north side of Singapore Island overlooking the Straits of
Johore. It is just off the Singapore-Johore road (Woodlands Road) at the
milestone 13 1/2, and there is a short approach road from the main road. The
Cemetery is known locally as Kranji Memorial and one must be sure of the address
before boarding a taxi as most taxi drivers do not know the Cemetery. There are
also bus stops on the main road facing the Cemetery. An MRT terminal will be
found a short distance from the Cemetery.
Historical
Information:
Before 1939 the
Kranji area was a military camp and at the time of the Japanese invasion of
Malaya, it was the site of a large ammunition magazine. On 8 February 1942, the
Japanese crossed the Johore Straits in strength, landing at the mouth of the
Kranji River within two miles of the place where the war cemetery now stands. On
the evening of 9 February, they launched an attack between the river and the
causeway. During the next few days fierce fighting ensued, in many cases hand to
hand, until their greatly superior numbers and air strength necessitated a
withdrawal. After the fall of the island, the Japanese established a prisoner of
war camp at Kranji and eventually a hospital was organised nearby at Woodlands.
After the reoccupation of Singapore, the small cemetery started by the prisoners
at Kranji was developed into a permanent war cemetery by the Army Graves Service
when it became evident that a larger cemetery at Changi could not remain
undisturbed. Changi had been the site of the main prisoner of war camp in
Singapore and a large hospital had been set up there by the Australian Infantry
Force. In 1946, the graves were moved from Changi to Kranji, as were those from
the Buona Vista prisoner of war camp. Many other graves from all parts of the
island were transferred to Kranji together with all Second World War graves from
Saigon Military Cemetery in French Indo-China (now Vietnam), another site where
permanent maintenance could not be assured. The Commission later brought in
graves of both World Wars from Bidadari Christian Cemetery, Singapore, where
again permanent maintenance was not possible. There are now 4,461 Commonwealth
casualties of the Second World War buried or commemorated at KRANJI WAR
CEMETERY. More than 850 of the burials are unidentified. The Chinese Memorial in
Plot 44 marks a collective grave for 69 Chinese servicemen, all members of the
Commonwealth forces, who were killed by the Japanese during the occupation in
February 1942. First World War burials and commemorations number 64, including
special memorials to three casualties known to have been buried in civil
cemeteries in Saigon and Singapore, but whose graves could not be located.
Within Kranji War Cemetery stands the SINGAPORE MEMORIAL, bearing the names of
over 24,000 casualties of the Commonwealth land and air forces who have no known
grave. The land forces commemorated by the memorial died during the campaigns in
Malaya and Indonesia or in subsequent captivity, many of them during the
construction of the Burma-Thailand railway, or at sea while being transported
into imprisonment elsewhere. The memorial also commemorates airmen who died
during operations over the whole of southern and eastern Asia and the
surrounding seas and oceans. The SINGAPORE (UNMAINTAINABLE GRAVES) MEMORIAL,
which stands at the western end of the Singapore Memorial, commemorates more
than 250 casualties who died in campaigns in Singapore and Malaya, whose known
graves in civil cemeteries could not be assured maintenance and on religious
grounds could not be moved to a war cemetery. The SINGAPORE CREMATION MEMORIAL,
which stands immediately behind the Singapore Memorial, commemorates almost 800
casualties, mostly of the Indian forces, whose remains were cremated in
accordance with their religious beliefs. The SINGAPORE CIVIL HOSPITAL GRAVE
MEMORIAL stands at the eastern end of the Singapore Memorial. During the last
hours of the Battle of Singapore, wounded civilians and servicemen taken
prisoner by the Japanese were brought to the hospital in their hundreds. The
number of fatalities was such that burial in the normal manner was impossible.
Before the war, an emergency water tank had been dug in the grounds of the
hospital and this was used as a grave for more than 400 civilians and
Commonwealth servicemen. After the war, it was decided that as individual
identification of the dead would be impossible, the grave should be left
undisturbed. The grave was suitably enclosed, consecrated by the Bishop of
Singapore, and a cross in memory of all of those buried there was erected over
it by the military authorities. The 107 Commonwealth casualties buried in the
grave are commemorated on the Singapore Civil Hospital Grave Memorial. Kranji
War Cemetery and the Singapore Memorial were designed by Colin St Clair Oakes.
Adjoining Kranji War Cemetery is KRANJI MILITARY CEMETERY, a substantial
non-world war site of 1,378 burials, created in 1975 when it was found necessary
to remove the graves of servicemen and their families from Pasir Panjang and Ulu
Pandan cemeteries.
No. of Identified
Casualties:
3712 |
